Castro defends Cuba's one-party system

HAVANA, Cuba - President Raul Castro delivered a full-throated defence of Cuba's one-party political system on Sunday, and a sharp-tongued warning to Communist Party delegates to fight corruption he said was a greater threat to the revolution than anything the United States could dream up.

In a stern closing speech the party's national conference, Castro reiterated a pledge to institute term-limits for Cuban officials, saying a Constitutional amendment would be required, but that leaders should begin to adopt the practice even before they are formalised.

Castro has spoken previously about limiting high ranking officials including himself to two, 5-year terms.

The Cuban president also upbraided those who were hoping to see more fundamental reforms come out of the two-day meetings - or new faces in the aged upper ranks of the party hierarchy.

"There has been no shortage of criticism and exhortations by those who have confused their intimate desires with reality, deluding themselves that the conference would consecrate the beginning of the dismantling of the political and social system the revolution has fought for for more than half a century," Castro said, adding that many had forgotten Cuba confronted an enemy to the north that would stop at nothing to destroy it.

Castro said demands for a multiparty system fail to take into account that Cuba is under siege - a reference to the U.S. embargo on the island.

"To renounce the principle of a one-party system would be the equivalent of legalising a party, or parties, of imperialism on our soil," he said.

Castro, 80, has spoken of the need to revitalise the island's leadership, but has complained there are few young leaders ready to step up. He, or his now-retired brother Fidel, have ruled the country since their 1959 revolution. Castro's two top deputies are 81 and 79, respectively.

"Making the necessary changes, but without the smallest concession to the enemy," read the headline in Sunday's official Juventud Rebelde newspaper, an apparent reference to the United States and other government opponents.

The theme was echoed by delegates at the conference in snippets of the session shown on state television

"The enemy is waiting to create internal problems for us," Angel Bueno warned fellow attendees.

The meetings are a follow-up to last April's historic party summit, which opened up long-shut doors of economic opportunity by green-lighting the legalisation of home and car sales, expansion of private-sector activity and extension of loans to support farmers, entrepreneurs and homeowners.

Foreign journalists were not allowed access to the weekend event.

State-run website Cubadebate showed photos of Castro presiding over the conference wearing a grey blazer and a dark, open-collar shirt, with what appeared to be a small bandage on the tip of his nose. There was no word of any appearance by Fidel Castro, who was greeted with a standing ovation and some tears at the April congress.

In a brief snippet of video posted on Cubadebate, Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura said in a keynote speech that the conference would focus on "the everyday work of the organisation."